Methodology · documentation reviewed 2026-08-30

How Acren turns records into research conclusions.

Source record → normalized field → property and entity resolution → relationship → conclusion → product display. Each stage below is specified the way an analyst would audit it: inputs, output, confidence handling, and what happens when data is missing.

What happens here

Official county, state, and municipal records are retained with their agency, jurisdiction, and observation date.

EXAMPLE VALUE AT THIS STAGECOUNTY RECORDER · INSTRUMENT 2019-0041882 · OBSERVED 2019-04-11

Interactive lineage. Example values are synthetic demonstrations of format, not filed records.

Module specifications

Six modules. Each one auditable.

Select a module to read its specification. Statuses and reviewed dates come from the same documentation set as the product.

Property resolutionSupportedReviewed 2026-08-30

Question

Do these records describe the same parcel?

Status

In production

Inputs

Assessment rolls (parcel number, situs, owner of record)
County parcel geometry where published
Recorded instruments referencing a legal description
Permit records with parcel or address linkage

Output

One property record per parcel, with every contributing source row retained and linked by parcel number or a labeled address match.

Evidence carried

Each joined row carries its agency, jurisdiction, and observation date. Address-matched joins are labeled derived so same-address risk stays visible.

Confidence handling

Parcel-number joins are treated as observed. Address joins carry a match score; below-threshold joins are excluded, not guessed.

When data is missing

A parcel with no geometry stays on the map as a point. A permit that cannot be joined stays at the jurisdiction level and never attaches to a parcel silently.

Limitations

Split and combined parcels can carry ambiguous lineage across assessment years.
Counties re-number parcels; Acren keeps the prior number as an alias rather than rewriting history.

The core distinction

Observed stays observed. Derived stays derived.

The single rule every module obeys: a filed record and a computed relationship are different kinds of statements, and the product never lets them blur.

Observed

Owner of record on an assessment roll
Grantee on a recorded deed
Entity status on a state registration
Permit issued on a parcel

Displayed with agency, jurisdiction, and observation date. Never rescored.

Derived

Owner string ↔ entity registration match
Candidate parent from officer agreements
Candidate portfolio from normalized owner strings
Research priority inside a buy box

Displayed with its basis, its confidence, and what would change the answer.

What Acren does not do

Boundaries are part of the specification.

No beneficial-ownership claims. State registries do not publish them; Acren does not infer them.
No seller-intent prediction. Research priority ranks records to read, not owners to call.
No consumer reporting. Acren is not a consumer report and is not for FCRA-regulated use.
No silent gap-filling. A field no source establishes stays empty, labeled missing.

Read the responsible-use standard

Data & trust

Audit the rest of the stack.

Methodology is one of four public surfaces documenting what Acren knows and how.

See it applied

Watch the methodology on a real research surface.

The sample property review applies every rule on this page to one property.

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